Tuesday, November 26, 2013

A Living Legacy of “Councillor” Carter’s Deed of Gift: Nimrod Burke, 23rd USCT

On September 5, 1791 Robert “Councillor” Carter III – scion of
one of the wealthiest slave-owning families in all of American history – filed his
famous “Deed of Gift” with Virginia’s Northumberland District Court, announcing
his intention to free over 450 of the slaves that toiled at 16 plantations
under his care.

Of the many slave families whose freedom was set in motion
with the Deed of Gift (which would go into effect in stages over many years) was
the Burke family of Leo Plantation (later renamed Oatlands) in Loudoun County. “Baptist Billy” Burke was the “most trusted
emissary” of Robert Carter III and around 1795 his family was emancipated. Burke's family was living at the Bull Run Quarter of Leo
Plantation, which was located in Prince William County near the present day Manassas
battlefield.

Burke’s great-grandson was named Nimrod Burke, who was born in Prince
William County in 1836. While you may not be familiar with the name of Nimrod
Burke, if you have studied African American participation in the American Civil
War you have probably seen his picture before (as a member of the re-created 23rd USCT, Nimrod Burke has become the “poster child” for our living history group).
Burke was one of 54 known African
Americans to fight for the Union cause from Prince William County, but unlike
most of his comrades-in-arms from Prince William, Burke was born a free man –
thanks to the Deed of Gift.

Nimrod Burke, Co. F, 23rd USCT

Burke resided in Prince William until 1854, when he moved to
Ohio with his parents. The 1860 census lists Nimrod as a “mulatto” whose
occupation was simply recorded as “farmer.”

He was 25 years old when the Civil War began and, like many
African American men his age, he tried to enlist and fight for the Union cause.
However, in 1861 the policy of the Lincoln administration was that this was to
be a white man’s war only. With a direct route to military service blocked,
Burke found a roundabout way to join the war effort.

The man that Burke was working for in Ohio prior to the
outbreak of war became an officer in the 36th Ohio. This man knew that
Nimrod had been raised in Virginia and would be familiar with the country that
they would soon be fighting in, so he hired Burke as a teamster and scout for
the regiment before they embarked for Virginia.

Burke continued to serve as an army scout until March of
1864. When the 36th Ohio was garrisoned close to Washington D.C., he enlisted
in the 23rd United States Colored Troops and was appointed 1st Sergeant of
Company F. The 23rd was organized at Camp Casey, which sat near the present day
location of the Pentagon near Robert E. Lee’s beloved Arlington House.

The 23rd was the regiment that sustained the
heaviest losses of any USCT unit at the Battle of the Crater, but fortunately
for Burke, he was in the hospital at the time with what his service record
calls “general debility.”

Burke returned to health and rejoined his until in October
of 1864 and was at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865 when Lee surrendered
the Army of Northern Virginia. This was particularly significant for Burke since
John Carter (a Lee ancestor) had once owned members of the Burke family.

He was mustered out of the service in Brazos, Texas on
November 30, 1865. Burke lived for nearly 50 years after the war and died on
July 15, 1914. He is buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Chillicothe, Ohio.

In a sense, Nimrod Burke continued to carry the torch of the
man who once owned his forebears – and for that reason, among many others, they
are both worthy of our attention.

“Jimmy's book is excellent and highly recommended! …The honor was mine in being able to work with this fine author.” - Don Troiani, Historical Artist

“Thanks to Mr. Price’s diligent research, students of the war finally have a volume that details one of the most important, if not the most important, moments in United States African American military history.” - Jim Lighthizer, President, Civil War Trust

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Disclaimer

The views expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not reflect those of any group, organization, or institution.

About Me

Jimmy Price is a Museum Education Specialist with the US Army Women's Museum. An Air Force veteran, he received his M.A. in Military History from Norwich University in 2009. His first book, The Battle of NewMarket Heights: Freedom Will Be Theirs by the Sword, was published in 2011. The Journal of Southern History claims “this slim volume offers considerable insight regarding the black military experience.” His second book, The Battle of First Deep Bottom was released to critical acclaim in 2014. Jimmy writes about different aspects of military history on his blogs Freedom by the Sword: A Historian’s Journey through the American Civil War Era andOver There: Blogging the AEF and WWI. He has contributed essays to A Companion to the Meuse-Argonne Campaign (edited by Edward G. Lengel), Hallowed Groundmagazine, and the International Encyclopedia of the First World War. He lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia with his wife and three children.